Chapter Six

Cohen

How something could feel so forbidden and yet so completely right was beyond me. I’d spent so many years believing Vienna and I’s time together had come and gone, and that there would be no second chances, that having her here—in my house, in my arms, and pressed against my aching erection—was almost more than I could take.

But taking her was exactly what I planned to do. She was a compulsion now, an obsession that my mind wouldn’t let go of until I had her. Even then, I was damn sure I’d never get enough.

Vienna Anderson was mine, and she always had been. I just hadn’t consciously realized how wholly she still owned me, too.

“Let me have you,” I begged. To hell with pretending to be strong. I was the furthest thing from it when it came to her. “Let me love you, Vienna.”

Her head tilted back, letting me kiss and suck tenderly at the base of her throat. “Tell m-me what to do,” she breathed, her body shuddering with each touch of my fingertips along her spine.

I froze, raising my face to meet hers. “You’ve had…I mean, you’ve done this—”

“With only one man,” she confessed tersely. “And he wasn’t you. I didn’t love him the way I love you, Cohen.” Her chest heaved with the weight of her admission. Then, “Please, don’t make me ask you again.”

If she thought for one moment that knowing she’d only been with one other man was a sign of weakness, she was dead wrong. If anything, it showed a strength within her that was unmatched against anyone else I’d ever known. So many questions about her, and her life for the past ten years, flooded my mind, but they didn’t stand a chance against the incessant desire that pulsed between us.

“Tell me what you want, Vi,” I whispered as softly as I could. My hips grinded against her, and the whimper that fell from her lips awoke something primal and possessive within me.

“I can’t.”

“You can.” I let my hands explore up beyond the hem of her shirt, coming around to trail across the sensitive, soft flesh under her breasts. “Tell me,” I demanded again, just as my thumb caressed her nipple through her bra.

She gasped, her knees buckling. I held her there, against the countertop, watching her come undone before my eyes. “Take me,” she whispered, almost inaudibly. “To your bedroom.”

I nodded. “Okay, that’s a start.” I placed my hands on her waist to make sure she’d be able to stay standing, and guided her toward the hallway. Her taking a step backward, and me matching that step with my own going forward, our eyes remaining locked. “What do you want me to do to you in there?”

My voice was gentle, prodding. Vienna was showing me fear—a fear of the unknown. Even more, she was submitting herself to me. As hot as that was, I didn’t want this to be about me getting what I wanted. She’d waited ten years for this, too. Whatever she wanted, I’d give it to her.

“I…want you inside me,” she said hoarsely. Her voice, however, had more strength to it, more grit.

Jesus, you are so beautiful, I thought, breathing heavily. There couldn’t possibly be anything more fucking gorgeous than watching her pouty little mouth form those five words.

“Fuck me, Cohen.”

All the breath went out of my lungs. I’d been wrong. Those were the hottest, most beautiful words I’d ever heard from her.

“Oh, Vi. I’ve waited ten fucking years for you to beg me for that,” I murmured. “And I wish I could, babe. But, this time, I’ve got to make love to you, because I love you too much not to.”

The backs of Vi’s legs bumped into the side of the bed, startling her. She’d been so caught up in our conversation that she’d obviously not noticed we’d made it to the bedroom.

Now, as she looked away, taking in the neatly made bed and the single pillow that lay on it, she was wide-eyed and buzzing with anxiety.

“You okay?” I whispered, bringing my hand up to run it along her cheek in reassurance.

“I…I don’t…” She cleared her throat. “I don’t want to be a disappointment to you. Not after all these years…and the buildup and waiting…”

It may have been the wrong reaction, but a soft chuckle came from my mouth before I had time to stop it. “Oh God, Vienna. That is not possible. Nothing could make getting the one thing I’ve wanted after all these years a disappointment.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Sex with me?”

Again, laughter was my response, but this time it was a hollower sound. “You know me better than that. It’s you I’ve wanted. Your body, yes, but I want your mind and soul, too, Vienna. Utterly and completely.”

I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I heard her whisper, “It’s yours,” just before her mouth found mine again.

With a renewed fervor, I explored every inch of her face—kissing, sucking, and nipping until I elicited the one word I’d longed to hear fall from her lips without being coerced.

“Cohen…”

My name. Every ounce of animalistic need was coursing through me at a feverish rate, and hearing my name on her lips, pleading with me and encouraging me…

I lost the last shred of control I’d been clinging to.

I tugged at her shirt, and like an obedient school girl, Vienna responded to my silent instruction, raising her arms to allow me to pull it over her head.

Such a good girl.

She was absolutely delectable, standing there at the foot of my bed in only her red lace bra and jeans, but I couldn’t stand the barriers that stood between us anymore. I had to have her. One more minute without burying myself inside her…I couldn’t bear it.

I kissed along her shoulders, matching my panting breaths with hers. My fingers fumbled up her back, and I was aware of the way her back arched against my touch, which only increased the ache that pulsed within me.

She pulled my hands away from the clasp of her bra, and for a moment I thought she was changing her mind.

In one swift movement, she undid it and let her bra slide down her arms. It dangled from the tip of one finger, and she paused just before letting it fall unceremoniously to the floor. “Is that what you wanted?” she asked coyly. She bit her bottom lip, but her eyes shone with an intensity I’d never seen from her before.

My mouth twitched at her playfulness. There’s my girl. “You are so gorgeous, Vi.”

A blush crept into her cheeks, but she reached out for me, pulling at my shirt, too. “Let me see you.”

I obliged, unbuttoning and tugging my own shirt off. Vienna’s expression, a mix of surprise and anticipation, made the corners of my lips turn upward. “See something you like?”

Her throat moved visibly as she swallowed. “There’s a big difference between feeling those chiseled muscles through your shirt, and seeing them,” she explained. “You’re definitely not a lanky eighteen-year-old anymore.”

“Shh,” I admonished, closing the gap between us. “We’re wasting time. We’ve waited long enough, don’t you think?”

I hooked my finger into the beltloop of her jeans, pulling her against me as I fumbled with the button.

“Not into foreplay, Cohen?”

“We’ve had ten years of foreplay, Vi. To hell with it.”

I had her out of those jeans in seconds. The curve of her hip bone, and the swell of her hips…Jesus, she wasn’t an awkward high school girl anymore, either. I reached down to undo the fly of my own jeans, but she surprised me, pushing my hands away gently and doing it herself. As she slid my jeans and boxer briefs down my hips, revealing my obvious need for her, Vienna’s gaze never left mine. She crouched as she went, and I stepped out of my clothes.

I saw her reach for me, intent to touch her fingertips to the hardness she’d created. Immediately, I stopped her, my hand on her wrist, pulling her up to stand in front of me again. “I won’t last if you put those fingertips of yours on me,” I admitted in a whisper. “I can barely handle seeing you, let alone your touch.”

It may have been the muted light in the room, but she looked amused. She reached behind her, feeling for the bed, and sat down, crawling up onto it. “Come here, then.”

Every muscle in my body twitched and clenched at the sight of her in the middle of my bed, and the seductive sound of her beckoning me. “My God, Vienna…seeing you like this—”

“Who’s wasting time now?” She lifted one leg, using her foot to hook behind my thigh and pull me closer. “I want you inside me, Cohen.” Each word was enunciated to make me understand.

Oh, I understood. Completely.

With my arms on either side of her hips, I ducked my head to kiss along her hip bone, letting my teeth graze along the edge of it. Then I brought a hand up and pulled her panties down, tossing them onto the floor with the rest of our clothing.

Hovering over her, I took in every inch of her, but the longing in her eyes…that’s what did me in. I reached over to my nightstand, pulled a condom from the top drawer, and rolled it on. Vi’s gaze was locked on mine, her foot rubbing gently up and down my thigh as she waited.

“Coh-en,” she teased, curving her foot to trail her toes up the inside of my thigh.

“Vi, you’re killing me,” I sighed, positioning myself at her entrance.

“And you’re making me wants things I never thought I’d have.”

“Say it again, Vi,” I whispered, my hands now pressed on the bed beside her head. “Tell me what you want, beautiful.”

“I want you, Cohen.”

Gently, I rolled my hips, sliding inside her. Matching sighs of intimate relief came from both of us.

“Christ,” I hissed without realizing it.

The heat and wetness of her, combined with my own hardness and pulsating need, was almost too much. I knew it’d all be over far too quickly if I continued to move within her, but I couldn’t help myself.

“You are pure fucking bliss,” I moaned against her mouth, kissing her relentlessly. With each thrust, small whimpers erupted from her lips, her breath damp and hot against my own skin. But her hips met mine each time, arching up to push my hardness deeper inside her. Offering herself to me.

Vienna’s fingernails grazed my back, and each time I buried myself within her, they’d clamp down, digging into my skin. My breath caught at the sharp pain, but I didn’t let up. I couldn’t. I was with her, on her, inside her—the woman I adored. And I lost myself completely.

“Vi…” It was my turn to beg. She was clenching around me, her breathing coming out in ragged and desperate pants.

“It’s okay,” she said on a sigh. “I can’t…hold off—Cohen!”

Everything around us dissipated as Vienna shattered beneath me, her body shuddering and clenching as wave after wave of her release engulfed her. Her mouth open, eyes wide, I watched her lose all control and give in to me. Each unyielding thrust, every welt on my back where her nails dug in, clinging to me as though her life depended on it…

“Christ, Vi!” My body exploded into a storm of convulsions and pulsations, and I pushed myself into her again and again until I couldn’t find the will to move.

Our desperate gasps for air slowly became calmer, and more even. I lowered myself down beside her, the muscles in my arms shaking with the exertion of holding myself up.

“What have you done to me?” Vienna smirked, rolling her head to the side to meet my gaze.

“I call it…loving you,” I quipped, leaning in to kiss her shoulder tenderly.

“I think you’ve corrupted me.”

My eyebrows rose. “Is that so?”

“Oh, absolutely,” she confirmed. “Curse words, begging, falling into bed with you…definite corruption.”

“And all those things are my fault?” I chuckled.

“Yes,” she assured me with a grin. “Because you’ve corrupted me.”

I shrugged, rolling onto my back. “Sounds like a damn good time to me, no matter what you call it.”